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S1: Coming up now on bold steps, Mark Jobe reveals the power of what we ponder.
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S2: The question that you live with today determines the destiny that you will embrace tomorrow. If you're asking yourself, do people like me? Or if you're asking yourself, am I important? Or if you're asking yourself, God, are you pleased with me? Those questions lead you to different destinies.
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S1: Welcome to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Mark is founding pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. Today we begin a new series, Mark called A heart for God is a simple but such an important message. Don't give up.
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S3: It is a powerful message. And this particular message is about King Saul and Wayne. I just recently came back from Israel and I was at the point at the city at Bashan, where Saul and his sons bodies were hung on a wall at the end of his life. And I actually taught about off of this same passage. Did you you know, Saul could have been such a great, compelling leader, but he allowed his own personal insecurity to deflect him from a heart for God.
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S1: Well, let's get into first Samuel chapter 13. Now for this message from Mark. It's called Don't Give Up.
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S2: How many of you are parents here today? Raise your hand. Isn't it crazy when your kids ask you questions that are hard to answer? How about it? I remember one of my kids starting to read the Bible when they were very young, and they looked at me and they said, dad, who did Adam and Eve's kids marry? I said, well, you know, one family, dad, did they marry their sisters? Well, son. Uh, I mean, those are tough questions, right? I remember one of Marissa, who was about probably three years old. We were driving down the road in Pulaski, 63rd and Pulaski, and there used to be a statue of a of an Indian like this advertising cigars. It's still there. So she looked up at me and she said, daddy, is the Indian praising Jesus? I was like, uh, you know, I think maybe, honey, I'm not really sure. You know, those are tough questions that people ask that you're not always. Not always easy to answer. But, you know, there are questions that we all have. And here's what I've discovered. Over time, I've discovered that all of us are driven by an undercurrent of question that rumbles in our mind day after day. How do you relate to people. How you see yourself, how you relate to God has a lot to do with the question that you play over and over and over and over in your mind. I look at the story of King Saul. I look at the story of Absalom, David's son, and I look at the story of David. And they all had three different questions that kept rumbling over and over in their mind. When I look at King Saul, the question that I see him constantly asking himself is this question. It determined his future. It sabotaged his destiny. But here's the question that Saul always asked himself. Do people like me? Do people like me? What do people think about me? Some of you ask yourself that question when you walked in this auditorium today. You wonder, how do I look? Do people like me? I wonder if they'll accept me. Some of you who are new here today may, may want to do people look like me? AM I dressed appropriately? Will people greet me? Do people like me? Will people acknowledge me? Who will I sit next to? Some of you constantly have that question going over and over in your mind. AM I popular? Do people like me? Do they accept me? What do people think about me? You ask yourself when you walk in a new room, a new setting, you ask yourself, what are people thinking about me? It affects how you see yourself. It affects the decisions that you make. Saul had that constant question in his mind do people like me? Absalom, who is David's son, seems to have another question, constantly rumbling in the back of his mind. And the question that Absalom would ask himself is this am I important? AM I important? Do people see me as significant? Do people think I'm successful? Do they look at me and think I'm somebody? AM I important? It caused Absalom to want to hang around with important people scurry for titles and ultimately try to sabotage his father's kingdom because he always asked himself, am I important? How do people see me? Do people think that I have significance? It causes us to search for titles, to tell people who we know, to try to angle our our business card, to say, a title that's more important than really what it is. We like to tell people who we know and who we hung out with, what degrees we had, because we're asking ourselves this question am I important? But David, who seems to it looks like his sins were greater than Saul's sins, but he ends up with the kingdom. What I love about David is that the Bible says about David, I have found a man after my own heart. God says, and I ask myself, what makes David a man after God's own heart? He seems to constantly be asking himself this question. God. Are you pleased with me, Lord? Do I have your favor? Are you pleased with me? The question that you live with today determines the destiny that you will embrace tomorrow. If you're asking yourself, do people like me? Or if you're asking yourself, am I important? Or if you're asking yourself, God, are you pleased with me? Those questions lead you to different destinies. And so today I want us to look at First Samuel chapter 13. We're going to be looking at verses one through 14 as we talk about the question that drives our life, and how to make sure that the question that drives your life does not sabotage your future. If you're taking notes today, I want you to write this. Write this phrase down. Don't give it up. Don't give it up. I believe as I was praying today, I felt an urgency because I felt like there may be some people in this auditorium today. This morning I was in the basement of my house and I was praying for you. I was praying for this message, and I felt compelled that there are some of you that are giving up your you're giving up your call. You're giving up your future. You're sabotaging what God wants to do through you because you're giving something up right now because of the question that you're asking yourself in your mind, just like David and King Saul and Absalom, Saul gave up his kingdom because of the question he kept asking himself in his mind. And I believe that some of you need to make sure you don't give it up. And so don't give it up. Write this down. Refuse to allow people pleasing pressure to drive you out of your place of obedience. If you look at the story of Saul, you'll recognize that Saul was the very first king that Israel had. He was the equivalent of our George Washington. Israel had never had a king. They had been a theocracy up until that time, which means a a a government that was ruled by the prophets that represented God. But the people of Israel asked for a king. And so God chose a man by the name of Saul to establish a monarchy in Israel. Saul was a foot and a half taller than most Israeli men. He looked like a king. He had the presence of a king physically, but inside Saul was very timid and lacked confidence. And I love the fact that God chose him, even knowing that he had issues in his heart. And you see the very first test that Saul had in his life, The big enemies of the people of Israel at the time were called the Philistines. And so Saul and his men had aggravated the Philistines. And so the Philistine army decided that they were going to come in massive force and crush this young king called Saul, who was 30 years old. So Saul gathered his men about 2000 men that he had another thousand were somewhere else. And they said, we're going to wait for the prophet to come and offer a sacrifice unto God, so that God would give us a major victory in this battle against the Philistines. So Saul waited with 2000 men, and as he waited, he saw that on the other side of the valley the Philistine army kept growing and growing and growing and growing. The longer he waited, the greater the Philistine army grew. With chariots and horses and armed men, and the more intimidated his people became. How many of you know? Sometimes it's like that, that the longer we wait, the bigger our problems seem to get. And sometimes we're waiting and it feels like our problems are growing and growing and growing right in front of us. Well, the people of Israel started to scatter. The men started to become confused. They started running to the caves. Some of them were trembling. And so Saul decided to do something that was not his to do. He was waiting for Samuel the prophet, to show up the sacrifice unto God. But since he waited and waited and Samuel had said, in seven days I'll be there. Saul took the offering himself, and he went up, and he offered a sacrifice unto God himself. I want you to notice what it says in verse eight. It said he waited seven days, the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal. And Saul's men began to scatter. So he said, bring me the burnt Offering and the fellowship offering, and Saul offered up a burnt offering. Here's what I want you to know. It was God had never called Saul to be a priest. And so it was outlawed. It was not legal for him to offer a sacrifice. Only the Levites, the priests, were allowed to offer a sacrifice. But because Saul got pressured by the people to do something, and he was asking himself, do people like me? What do they think of me as a leader? It pressured Saul to step out of his place of obedience and to step into disobedience. There are some people today that because of peer pressure around you, you're doing things that you know you shouldn't do, but people have pressured you into doing them because you're asking yourself this question, do people like me? There are people that are here that are living in compromise. Because you feel the pressure of people wanting you to do some things that violate your conscience and violate your convictions, but you're doing them because the question that you ask yourself is, do people like me?
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S1: Today's bold Steps message don't give up. We'll continue in just a bit. I'm Wayne Shepherd here with Mark Jobe and Mark. These daily messages are made possible in part because of our faithful, bold partners who give monthly. We're so excited about the response we received to bold steps from all over the country, and even in other places in the world. And we often talk about Malawi, Africa because it's so exciting to us. The thing we're learning is that in Malawi, they often listen in groups, not like us Americans. We listen, you know, one at a time in our cars, but they listen in groups.
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S4: Yeah. So radio access isn't always as easy as it is in America. And so there's these radios. I think they're solar generated radios that people have, and they gather around and listen to these programs together. And so I love that, by the way. And we received a message from Malawi from one of the listeners that says this. It says, hello, we want to give our thanks to you for the big present of radio that you have given us. Let me say that our listener club has grown tremendously, and many are joining our club every day. Apart from mine. We also have created five more listener clubs, of which we want you to pay a visit. All right.
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S1: You need to book a ticket.
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S4: I know I would love to visit Malawi for. We love to listen to the program which has directed us to Jesus Christ. Thank you so much for the present you have given us. May God graciously give you more blessings so you may give to others who have need as well.
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S1: That a great picture. Radio as a present.
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S4: Yeah. And you know what, Wayne? I can visualize now a group of five, six, seven, ten people sitting around the radio listening to Bold Step program as they interact with each other about the Word of God. What a powerful image that is. And that's all made possible because of our bold partners. Indeed. And so we want to say thank you to those of you that have chosen to give monthly to this program. Uh, because you believe not in this program, you believe in the power of the gospel and that we are faithfully attempting to present it to the ends of the earth.
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S1: Amen to that. Thank you. Mark. If you'd like to sign up as a bold partner, do that today at bold steps.org. It's that simple, bold steps.org. All right. There's more to today's message. So let's get back after it today. Don't give up.
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S2: I believe that many of us struggle with this. Many of us can compromise our future for a moment of applause. Do people like us? I remember struggling with this question years ago. I was 22 years old. I had been pastoring a year. The church was very small and I was kind of struggling with, is this significant? Is this really even making a difference? We had four men in the church to walk into the church. I'd have to. I'd have to ask the gang bangers that were sitting on the front steps of the church to move over so that I could get in there. They didn't respect it very much. We didn't have a worship team. I'd stand up on Sunday morning and there was about 15 people to preach to. Our worship was bad. Our building was falling apart. They couldn't pay me a salary. My salary was $8,000 and no insurance. And someone had loaned me an office, a room in the back of their office where I had a mattress on the floor and that's where I was living, didn't have any furniture, and I was really struggling with significance. God really did you call me here? I mean, I got a four year degree and I'm stuck in this little place. They can barely pay me. It's in the middle of nowhere. We don't have anything. The building is falling apart. We don't have a worship team. We don't have leaders. We don't barely have anything. And we're in a really tough neighborhood. And I've told some of you this story before. And then I got a phone call from a university that was doing a graduation at the Rockefeller Center, right on the campus of the University of Chicago. How many of you have been there before or seen it? It's a beautiful, ornate building that the richest man in the world, Rockefeller built, and its beautiful stained glass windows, vaulted ceilings. And I was struggling with insignificance. And I got this call from a university that wanted me to do the invocation and convocation at a graduation of all these important people. And so they called me up and they said, uh, Reverend Mark, we want to invite you to convocation at this graduation. And I'm like, wow, they called me. I said, yes, sir, let me check my calendar open. So I showed up at the Rockefeller Center and they said, there's going to be a lot of people traveling from all over the world to come to this graduation. And they put me in my long graduation robes with a flat hat and indicating that I had a bachelor's degree at the time. And as we were walking up to the platform in that ornate place, stained glass windows packed out auditorium, the master of ceremonies talked to me as we were walking up to the platform, and he said, hey, Reverend Jobe, we know that you're a smart young man going to do some good things. And you know, this is a nonsectarian event. There are people from a lot of different religions here that are coming. And we know that you're a smart young man. That that's that's on his way up. And we just I just want to make sure that you keep your comments non-sectarian. And I said, what does that mean exactly? He said, well, don't mention names like Jesus or Christ or the cross or the gospel, the Bible, because there's a lot of religions here and we don't want to offend anybody. And I said, uh, well, I wish someone would have told me that we know you're a smart young man. And then sat me down. And I looked over this distinguished crowd of people, doctors and lawyers and business people that have come in from all over the world. And I thought, wow, I'm in a place of importance here, the Rockefeller Chapel. I must be important. And then they asked me, I heard Reverend Mark joke is going to do the convocation. And so I stood in front of that fancy podium, and I opened up my mouth in front of that microphone. And what came what kept coming to my mind is, well, you know, do people like me? Are they going to like me? I want to make sure I do what they called me to do. And so I prayed a prayer. And it was the most generic, politically correct, light, whitewashed prayer that you would ever heard. I didn't mention the name of Jesus, the gospel, the Bible. It was like God and blessing graduates future. I don't even know if I said Amen. And then I sat down. Have you ever felt conviction before? You know, conviction feels like a knife in the soul. The Holy Spirit. I sat down on that big fancy chair on that auditorium. And here's what I felt like the Holy Spirit said to me. These words kept going through my mind. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. It is foolishness to those that are perishing, but it is salvation to those that embrace it. And I was antsy and uncomfortable. And the whole time I'm like, what have I just done? I've been asking myself this question do people like me? Do people like me when I should be asking my question, God, are you pleased? And then all of a sudden, in the middle of my thinking, I was brought back to reality when I heard. And now the Reverend Mark Jobe is going to do the benediction. This time I was ready. Yeah. You know, it takes a little while, but. So I jumped up to that fancy podium and I said, I know this is a non-sectarian event and I'm not going to be offensive. Don't want to be offensive, but I'm going to pray in the only name I know how to pray in. And that is the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. And this time, instead of praying like a watered down minister, I prayed like a Pentecostal preacher. I must have mentioned the name of Jesus 3 or 4 times. I may even raise my leg when I was preaching and asking for blessing and power upon their lives. And I prayed blessing and God and Jesus. Yeah, I mentioned them a couple times, and then as soon as it was over, the guy after me came up a little nervous, a little befuddled, and said, okay, we're dismissed. I didn't wait to shake the hand with the president. Vice President Sarah. I just ran off the stage with my robe flowing behind me. Real because I was going fast, so it was flowing like I'm getting off real fast. I didn't want to say hi. No one wanted to say hi to me. I felt like they were burning holes in the back of my head. I got halfway down the aisle and a girl jumps in front of me like this, and I said, here it goes. And she said, pastor Mark. I said, yes. Could you move over? She said, no. She said, pastor, I've been a student here for three years. They've had Christian ministers pray. None of them have ever mentioned the name of Jesus. Thank you for bringing up the name of Jesus. Guess what? I never was invited back to that place. Never again. Not. Didn't even get a thank you card from them. Not even a thank you, pastor, for coming out. But I tell you, I. Let me tell you something. I may have lost an invitation, but I didn't lose my soul. And I often had. Times have thought back to that moment where I was asking myself, like, Saul, do people like me? Do people like me? AM I pleasing, am I popular? AM I doing what people want? I asked. I think back to that moment often and think that I believe if I had not had come up and prayed in the name of Jesus, if I had not been bold about Jesus, then I would have forsaken, not passed the test, and maybe I would be speaking in places that were politically correct. But I don't think we would have led this many thousands of people to Jesus Christ. And we've seen thousands of lives transformed by the power of the gospel of Jesus, because I determined I will not be ashamed of the message of the cross of Jesus. I will preach it boldly. It may offend some. Some people may feel like it's too much, but it is the power of God unto salvation. And I want to tell you that that Saul was asking himself this question do people like me? Ultimately, if that's the question that you're asking. You will crash and burn. Ultimately, you will compromise your faith. Ultimately, you will water down the message. Ultimately, you will try not to be offensive. You'll try to speak in terms that everybody likes. You'll make sure that your message does not offend anybody and you will sabotage your future. Saul. Little did he know it, but at that moment of asking, do people like me? Saul was giving up the keys to his future. Number two, don't give it up. Not only don't let people pleasing pressure drive you from your place of obedience, but don't give it up. Avoid assuming roles that God has not anointed you to step into. You see, people pleasing insecurity will call us to assume roles that are not ours to take. Saul was not called to be a priest. He was called to be a king. Samuel had anointed him, had taken oil, and poured it over his head and said, God is calling you to be a King of Israel. Anointing means that someone is given the authority and power to fulfill a task upon their lives.
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S1: And that's only part of Mark job's message titled Don't Give Up here on Bold Steps. Part two begins next time, so be sure to join us again. And if you missed any bit of today's program, or if you want to find more teachings and resources from the Bold Steps Ministry, just visit our website, Bold steps.org. You know, Mark, it feels like our culture grows more hostile to the Christian faith with each passing day. A lot of evidence to this. A lot of believers are looking around and feeling like strangers in their own land, like they're living in exile. And that's the picture behind this month's Bold Step gift, a book called The Church in Babylon.
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S4: Yeah. So if you've felt like that, that, hey, your Christian values, your faith seems stranger and stranger in the culture that we live in, then you're not just imagining that.
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S1: You're not alone.
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S4: No. And by the way, the Bible talks about the end times getting worse and, uh, but Erwin Lutzer, our good friend Erwin Lutzer, pastor of Moody Church on Moody Radio, written several books. He's written a book called The Church in Babylon, heeding the call to be a light in darkness. And he. He takes the. The story of Daniel, who was thrust into a pagan culture surrounded by it, immersed in it, but yet Daniel did not lose his way. In fact, he ended up influencing that culture.
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S1: He stood firm.
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S4: Yeah. Yeah. So this is really important. How to live faithfully as exiles in a culture that no longer shares our value. This will encourage you if you have felt a little bit overwhelmed by the culture around you.
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S1: To give and request your copy of The Church in Babylon, visit us online at bold steps.org/give or call us at 800 D.L. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639. Now, if you prefer, you can also send your donation and ask for the book by writing to us at Bold Steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 606 ten. Now, if this ministry has meant something to you, if these messages have encouraged you, challenged you, or helped you hold on to your hope in a difficult season, we invite you to become a bold partner. Your faithful monthly support of any amount is what keeps these programs coming to you and to new listeners around the world. And when you give $30 or more each month, we'll thank you with a signed copy of Mark's book, unstuck out of your cave and into your call. There's also a 50% discount across the Moody Publishers online store and the exclusive Bold Partner post marks personal bi weekly video just for our partners. Sign up at Bold steps.org. And before we end today, I want to remind you that you can always find these daily messages and listen on your own time by subscribing to the Bold Steps podcast. We've made it easy to catch up on programs you may have missed, or to share these lessons with a friend, all with a click of a button. So if you haven't already, just go to your favorite podcast platform and search for bold steps with doctor Mark Jones. Well, that's all our time for today. I'm Wayne Shepherd inviting you back next time when Mark concludes his message. Don't give up. Discover how taking shortcuts can sometimes sabotage your future. That's on Monday's edition of Bold Steps with Mark Joe. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a Ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
S1: Coming up now on bold steps, Mark Jobe reveals the power of what we ponder.
00:00:06
S2: The question that you live with today determines the destiny that you will embrace tomorrow. If you're asking yourself, do people like me? Or if you're asking yourself, am I important? Or if you're asking yourself, God, are you pleased with me? Those questions lead you to different destinies.
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S1: Welcome to Bold Steps with Mark Jobe. Mark is founding pastor of New Life Community Church in Chicago. Today we begin a new series, Mark called A heart for God is a simple but such an important message. Don't give up.
00:00:51
S3: It is a powerful message. And this particular message is about King Saul and Wayne. I just recently came back from Israel and I was at the point at the city at Bashan, where Saul and his sons bodies were hung on a wall at the end of his life. And I actually taught about off of this same passage. Did you you know, Saul could have been such a great, compelling leader, but he allowed his own personal insecurity to deflect him from a heart for God.
00:01:26
S1: Well, let's get into first Samuel chapter 13. Now for this message from Mark. It's called Don't Give Up.
00:01:33
S2: How many of you are parents here today? Raise your hand. Isn't it crazy when your kids ask you questions that are hard to answer? How about it? I remember one of my kids starting to read the Bible when they were very young, and they looked at me and they said, dad, who did Adam and Eve's kids marry? I said, well, you know, one family, dad, did they marry their sisters? Well, son. Uh, I mean, those are tough questions, right? I remember one of Marissa, who was about probably three years old. We were driving down the road in Pulaski, 63rd and Pulaski, and there used to be a statue of a of an Indian like this advertising cigars. It's still there. So she looked up at me and she said, daddy, is the Indian praising Jesus? I was like, uh, you know, I think maybe, honey, I'm not really sure. You know, those are tough questions that people ask that you're not always. Not always easy to answer. But, you know, there are questions that we all have. And here's what I've discovered. Over time, I've discovered that all of us are driven by an undercurrent of question that rumbles in our mind day after day. How do you relate to people. How you see yourself, how you relate to God has a lot to do with the question that you play over and over and over and over in your mind. I look at the story of King Saul. I look at the story of Absalom, David's son, and I look at the story of David. And they all had three different questions that kept rumbling over and over in their mind. When I look at King Saul, the question that I see him constantly asking himself is this question. It determined his future. It sabotaged his destiny. But here's the question that Saul always asked himself. Do people like me? Do people like me? What do people think about me? Some of you ask yourself that question when you walked in this auditorium today. You wonder, how do I look? Do people like me? I wonder if they'll accept me. Some of you who are new here today may, may want to do people look like me? AM I dressed appropriately? Will people greet me? Do people like me? Will people acknowledge me? Who will I sit next to? Some of you constantly have that question going over and over in your mind. AM I popular? Do people like me? Do they accept me? What do people think about me? You ask yourself when you walk in a new room, a new setting, you ask yourself, what are people thinking about me? It affects how you see yourself. It affects the decisions that you make. Saul had that constant question in his mind do people like me? Absalom, who is David's son, seems to have another question, constantly rumbling in the back of his mind. And the question that Absalom would ask himself is this am I important? AM I important? Do people see me as significant? Do people think I'm successful? Do they look at me and think I'm somebody? AM I important? It caused Absalom to want to hang around with important people scurry for titles and ultimately try to sabotage his father's kingdom because he always asked himself, am I important? How do people see me? Do people think that I have significance? It causes us to search for titles, to tell people who we know, to try to angle our our business card, to say, a title that's more important than really what it is. We like to tell people who we know and who we hung out with, what degrees we had, because we're asking ourselves this question am I important? But David, who seems to it looks like his sins were greater than Saul's sins, but he ends up with the kingdom. What I love about David is that the Bible says about David, I have found a man after my own heart. God says, and I ask myself, what makes David a man after God's own heart? He seems to constantly be asking himself this question. God. Are you pleased with me, Lord? Do I have your favor? Are you pleased with me? The question that you live with today determines the destiny that you will embrace tomorrow. If you're asking yourself, do people like me? Or if you're asking yourself, am I important? Or if you're asking yourself, God, are you pleased with me? Those questions lead you to different destinies. And so today I want us to look at First Samuel chapter 13. We're going to be looking at verses one through 14 as we talk about the question that drives our life, and how to make sure that the question that drives your life does not sabotage your future. If you're taking notes today, I want you to write this. Write this phrase down. Don't give it up. Don't give it up. I believe as I was praying today, I felt an urgency because I felt like there may be some people in this auditorium today. This morning I was in the basement of my house and I was praying for you. I was praying for this message, and I felt compelled that there are some of you that are giving up your you're giving up your call. You're giving up your future. You're sabotaging what God wants to do through you because you're giving something up right now because of the question that you're asking yourself in your mind, just like David and King Saul and Absalom, Saul gave up his kingdom because of the question he kept asking himself in his mind. And I believe that some of you need to make sure you don't give it up. And so don't give it up. Write this down. Refuse to allow people pleasing pressure to drive you out of your place of obedience. If you look at the story of Saul, you'll recognize that Saul was the very first king that Israel had. He was the equivalent of our George Washington. Israel had never had a king. They had been a theocracy up until that time, which means a a a government that was ruled by the prophets that represented God. But the people of Israel asked for a king. And so God chose a man by the name of Saul to establish a monarchy in Israel. Saul was a foot and a half taller than most Israeli men. He looked like a king. He had the presence of a king physically, but inside Saul was very timid and lacked confidence. And I love the fact that God chose him, even knowing that he had issues in his heart. And you see the very first test that Saul had in his life, The big enemies of the people of Israel at the time were called the Philistines. And so Saul and his men had aggravated the Philistines. And so the Philistine army decided that they were going to come in massive force and crush this young king called Saul, who was 30 years old. So Saul gathered his men about 2000 men that he had another thousand were somewhere else. And they said, we're going to wait for the prophet to come and offer a sacrifice unto God, so that God would give us a major victory in this battle against the Philistines. So Saul waited with 2000 men, and as he waited, he saw that on the other side of the valley the Philistine army kept growing and growing and growing and growing. The longer he waited, the greater the Philistine army grew. With chariots and horses and armed men, and the more intimidated his people became. How many of you know? Sometimes it's like that, that the longer we wait, the bigger our problems seem to get. And sometimes we're waiting and it feels like our problems are growing and growing and growing right in front of us. Well, the people of Israel started to scatter. The men started to become confused. They started running to the caves. Some of them were trembling. And so Saul decided to do something that was not his to do. He was waiting for Samuel the prophet, to show up the sacrifice unto God. But since he waited and waited and Samuel had said, in seven days I'll be there. Saul took the offering himself, and he went up, and he offered a sacrifice unto God himself. I want you to notice what it says in verse eight. It said he waited seven days, the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal. And Saul's men began to scatter. So he said, bring me the burnt Offering and the fellowship offering, and Saul offered up a burnt offering. Here's what I want you to know. It was God had never called Saul to be a priest. And so it was outlawed. It was not legal for him to offer a sacrifice. Only the Levites, the priests, were allowed to offer a sacrifice. But because Saul got pressured by the people to do something, and he was asking himself, do people like me? What do they think of me as a leader? It pressured Saul to step out of his place of obedience and to step into disobedience. There are some people today that because of peer pressure around you, you're doing things that you know you shouldn't do, but people have pressured you into doing them because you're asking yourself this question, do people like me? There are people that are here that are living in compromise. Because you feel the pressure of people wanting you to do some things that violate your conscience and violate your convictions, but you're doing them because the question that you ask yourself is, do people like me?
00:12:24
S1: Today's bold Steps message don't give up. We'll continue in just a bit. I'm Wayne Shepherd here with Mark Jobe and Mark. These daily messages are made possible in part because of our faithful, bold partners who give monthly. We're so excited about the response we received to bold steps from all over the country, and even in other places in the world. And we often talk about Malawi, Africa because it's so exciting to us. The thing we're learning is that in Malawi, they often listen in groups, not like us Americans. We listen, you know, one at a time in our cars, but they listen in groups.
00:12:57
S4: Yeah. So radio access isn't always as easy as it is in America. And so there's these radios. I think they're solar generated radios that people have, and they gather around and listen to these programs together. And so I love that, by the way. And we received a message from Malawi from one of the listeners that says this. It says, hello, we want to give our thanks to you for the big present of radio that you have given us. Let me say that our listener club has grown tremendously, and many are joining our club every day. Apart from mine. We also have created five more listener clubs, of which we want you to pay a visit. All right.
00:13:41
S1: You need to book a ticket.
00:13:41
S4: I know I would love to visit Malawi for. We love to listen to the program which has directed us to Jesus Christ. Thank you so much for the present you have given us. May God graciously give you more blessings so you may give to others who have need as well.
00:13:57
S1: That a great picture. Radio as a present.
00:14:00
S4: Yeah. And you know what, Wayne? I can visualize now a group of five, six, seven, ten people sitting around the radio listening to Bold Step program as they interact with each other about the Word of God. What a powerful image that is. And that's all made possible because of our bold partners. Indeed. And so we want to say thank you to those of you that have chosen to give monthly to this program. Uh, because you believe not in this program, you believe in the power of the gospel and that we are faithfully attempting to present it to the ends of the earth.
00:14:37
S1: Amen to that. Thank you. Mark. If you'd like to sign up as a bold partner, do that today at bold steps.org. It's that simple, bold steps.org. All right. There's more to today's message. So let's get back after it today. Don't give up.
00:14:55
S2: I believe that many of us struggle with this. Many of us can compromise our future for a moment of applause. Do people like us? I remember struggling with this question years ago. I was 22 years old. I had been pastoring a year. The church was very small and I was kind of struggling with, is this significant? Is this really even making a difference? We had four men in the church to walk into the church. I'd have to. I'd have to ask the gang bangers that were sitting on the front steps of the church to move over so that I could get in there. They didn't respect it very much. We didn't have a worship team. I'd stand up on Sunday morning and there was about 15 people to preach to. Our worship was bad. Our building was falling apart. They couldn't pay me a salary. My salary was $8,000 and no insurance. And someone had loaned me an office, a room in the back of their office where I had a mattress on the floor and that's where I was living, didn't have any furniture, and I was really struggling with significance. God really did you call me here? I mean, I got a four year degree and I'm stuck in this little place. They can barely pay me. It's in the middle of nowhere. We don't have anything. The building is falling apart. We don't have a worship team. We don't have leaders. We don't barely have anything. And we're in a really tough neighborhood. And I've told some of you this story before. And then I got a phone call from a university that was doing a graduation at the Rockefeller Center, right on the campus of the University of Chicago. How many of you have been there before or seen it? It's a beautiful, ornate building that the richest man in the world, Rockefeller built, and its beautiful stained glass windows, vaulted ceilings. And I was struggling with insignificance. And I got this call from a university that wanted me to do the invocation and convocation at a graduation of all these important people. And so they called me up and they said, uh, Reverend Mark, we want to invite you to convocation at this graduation. And I'm like, wow, they called me. I said, yes, sir, let me check my calendar open. So I showed up at the Rockefeller Center and they said, there's going to be a lot of people traveling from all over the world to come to this graduation. And they put me in my long graduation robes with a flat hat and indicating that I had a bachelor's degree at the time. And as we were walking up to the platform in that ornate place, stained glass windows packed out auditorium, the master of ceremonies talked to me as we were walking up to the platform, and he said, hey, Reverend Jobe, we know that you're a smart young man going to do some good things. And you know, this is a nonsectarian event. There are people from a lot of different religions here that are coming. And we know that you're a smart young man. That that's that's on his way up. And we just I just want to make sure that you keep your comments non-sectarian. And I said, what does that mean exactly? He said, well, don't mention names like Jesus or Christ or the cross or the gospel, the Bible, because there's a lot of religions here and we don't want to offend anybody. And I said, uh, well, I wish someone would have told me that we know you're a smart young man. And then sat me down. And I looked over this distinguished crowd of people, doctors and lawyers and business people that have come in from all over the world. And I thought, wow, I'm in a place of importance here, the Rockefeller Chapel. I must be important. And then they asked me, I heard Reverend Mark joke is going to do the convocation. And so I stood in front of that fancy podium, and I opened up my mouth in front of that microphone. And what came what kept coming to my mind is, well, you know, do people like me? Are they going to like me? I want to make sure I do what they called me to do. And so I prayed a prayer. And it was the most generic, politically correct, light, whitewashed prayer that you would ever heard. I didn't mention the name of Jesus, the gospel, the Bible. It was like God and blessing graduates future. I don't even know if I said Amen. And then I sat down. Have you ever felt conviction before? You know, conviction feels like a knife in the soul. The Holy Spirit. I sat down on that big fancy chair on that auditorium. And here's what I felt like the Holy Spirit said to me. These words kept going through my mind. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. It is foolishness to those that are perishing, but it is salvation to those that embrace it. And I was antsy and uncomfortable. And the whole time I'm like, what have I just done? I've been asking myself this question do people like me? Do people like me when I should be asking my question, God, are you pleased? And then all of a sudden, in the middle of my thinking, I was brought back to reality when I heard. And now the Reverend Mark Jobe is going to do the benediction. This time I was ready. Yeah. You know, it takes a little while, but. So I jumped up to that fancy podium and I said, I know this is a non-sectarian event and I'm not going to be offensive. Don't want to be offensive, but I'm going to pray in the only name I know how to pray in. And that is the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. And this time, instead of praying like a watered down minister, I prayed like a Pentecostal preacher. I must have mentioned the name of Jesus 3 or 4 times. I may even raise my leg when I was preaching and asking for blessing and power upon their lives. And I prayed blessing and God and Jesus. Yeah, I mentioned them a couple times, and then as soon as it was over, the guy after me came up a little nervous, a little befuddled, and said, okay, we're dismissed. I didn't wait to shake the hand with the president. Vice President Sarah. I just ran off the stage with my robe flowing behind me. Real because I was going fast, so it was flowing like I'm getting off real fast. I didn't want to say hi. No one wanted to say hi to me. I felt like they were burning holes in the back of my head. I got halfway down the aisle and a girl jumps in front of me like this, and I said, here it goes. And she said, pastor Mark. I said, yes. Could you move over? She said, no. She said, pastor, I've been a student here for three years. They've had Christian ministers pray. None of them have ever mentioned the name of Jesus. Thank you for bringing up the name of Jesus. Guess what? I never was invited back to that place. Never again. Not. Didn't even get a thank you card from them. Not even a thank you, pastor, for coming out. But I tell you, I. Let me tell you something. I may have lost an invitation, but I didn't lose my soul. And I often had. Times have thought back to that moment where I was asking myself, like, Saul, do people like me? Do people like me? AM I pleasing, am I popular? AM I doing what people want? I asked. I think back to that moment often and think that I believe if I had not had come up and prayed in the name of Jesus, if I had not been bold about Jesus, then I would have forsaken, not passed the test, and maybe I would be speaking in places that were politically correct. But I don't think we would have led this many thousands of people to Jesus Christ. And we've seen thousands of lives transformed by the power of the gospel of Jesus, because I determined I will not be ashamed of the message of the cross of Jesus. I will preach it boldly. It may offend some. Some people may feel like it's too much, but it is the power of God unto salvation. And I want to tell you that that Saul was asking himself this question do people like me? Ultimately, if that's the question that you're asking. You will crash and burn. Ultimately, you will compromise your faith. Ultimately, you will water down the message. Ultimately, you will try not to be offensive. You'll try to speak in terms that everybody likes. You'll make sure that your message does not offend anybody and you will sabotage your future. Saul. Little did he know it, but at that moment of asking, do people like me? Saul was giving up the keys to his future. Number two, don't give it up. Not only don't let people pleasing pressure drive you from your place of obedience, but don't give it up. Avoid assuming roles that God has not anointed you to step into. You see, people pleasing insecurity will call us to assume roles that are not ours to take. Saul was not called to be a priest. He was called to be a king. Samuel had anointed him, had taken oil, and poured it over his head and said, God is calling you to be a King of Israel. Anointing means that someone is given the authority and power to fulfill a task upon their lives.
00:25:27
S1: And that's only part of Mark job's message titled Don't Give Up here on Bold Steps. Part two begins next time, so be sure to join us again. And if you missed any bit of today's program, or if you want to find more teachings and resources from the Bold Steps Ministry, just visit our website, Bold steps.org. You know, Mark, it feels like our culture grows more hostile to the Christian faith with each passing day. A lot of evidence to this. A lot of believers are looking around and feeling like strangers in their own land, like they're living in exile. And that's the picture behind this month's Bold Step gift, a book called The Church in Babylon.
00:26:02
S4: Yeah. So if you've felt like that, that, hey, your Christian values, your faith seems stranger and stranger in the culture that we live in, then you're not just imagining that.
00:26:16
S1: You're not alone.
00:26:17
S4: No. And by the way, the Bible talks about the end times getting worse and, uh, but Erwin Lutzer, our good friend Erwin Lutzer, pastor of Moody Church on Moody Radio, written several books. He's written a book called The Church in Babylon, heeding the call to be a light in darkness. And he. He takes the. The story of Daniel, who was thrust into a pagan culture surrounded by it, immersed in it, but yet Daniel did not lose his way. In fact, he ended up influencing that culture.
00:26:52
S1: He stood firm.
00:26:53
S4: Yeah. Yeah. So this is really important. How to live faithfully as exiles in a culture that no longer shares our value. This will encourage you if you have felt a little bit overwhelmed by the culture around you.
00:27:07
S1: To give and request your copy of The Church in Babylon, visit us online at bold steps.org/give or call us at 800 D.L. Moody. That's (800) 356-6639. Now, if you prefer, you can also send your donation and ask for the book by writing to us at Bold Steps. 820 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 606 ten. Now, if this ministry has meant something to you, if these messages have encouraged you, challenged you, or helped you hold on to your hope in a difficult season, we invite you to become a bold partner. Your faithful monthly support of any amount is what keeps these programs coming to you and to new listeners around the world. And when you give $30 or more each month, we'll thank you with a signed copy of Mark's book, unstuck out of your cave and into your call. There's also a 50% discount across the Moody Publishers online store and the exclusive Bold Partner post marks personal bi weekly video just for our partners. Sign up at Bold steps.org. And before we end today, I want to remind you that you can always find these daily messages and listen on your own time by subscribing to the Bold Steps podcast. We've made it easy to catch up on programs you may have missed, or to share these lessons with a friend, all with a click of a button. So if you haven't already, just go to your favorite podcast platform and search for bold steps with doctor Mark Jones. Well, that's all our time for today. I'm Wayne Shepherd inviting you back next time when Mark concludes his message. Don't give up. Discover how taking shortcuts can sometimes sabotage your future. That's on Monday's edition of Bold Steps with Mark Joe. Bold steps is a production of Moody Radio, a Ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
